Cat Patch Fever
by Mallobaude
Summary: Attacked by Grimm while on his way to visit family in Patch, Oscar finds himself alone in the wilderness and forced to fend for himself. Tired, hungry, and desperate, the young faunus boy comes upon a lone cabin in the woods which seems all too perfect to give him what he needs. He never would have expected who wound up being inside. Cat faunus Oscar. Cover art by irozhea.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Commissioned by Lost One

* * *

Hunger gnawed at his stomach, sapping his strength and will to go on. Yet he knew he had to. There had to be something out here. Someone. Anyone.

It had been three days since the Grimm attack had scattered the caravan he was travelling in to see his family. Three days since he'd seen another living person after fleeing into the woods to escape the snapping jaws of the Beowolves which had killed and injured so many in his party. Three days since he had eaten.

Oscar Pine took a deep breath, urging his body to continue to trudge forward. Leaves crunched and branches snapped underneath his boots, and in the middle of the forest here on Patch everything looked the same. Every direction seemed directionless. And with only a broken scroll that was destroyed in the attack, he had no way of finding out where he was or calling for help. All he could hope was that he was getting close to some semblance of civilization.

Hours of travelling after sleeping on a bed of leaves had left his small body sore and weary, yet he urged himself to keep moving forward. It was either that, or death. Be it by starvation, exhaustion, or Grimm. He was thankful the forests of Patch hadn't revealed yet more Grimm to him. At least something was going his way.

It was on that hopeful thought that something new invaded his nostrils. Oscar's superior faunus senses picked something up. It was faint. Sweet. Familiar. Filled with new hope as well as new sensations, Oscar found new energy, and began to walk at a brisk pace toward the source of the scent. Ducking under branches and dodging gnarled tree roots that twisted on the ground, he raced toward the tree line, finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Or in this case, the clearing beyond the endless woods of Patch.

Sounds, those of civilized life which he hadn't heard since the attack, filled his ears. His feline tail, an almost bushy little thing resembling that of a Rusty Spotted Cat, flicked excitedly. Oscar approached the end of the forest cautiously, using the last of the trees to conceal himself as he peered around them to what lay beyond.

People. _Human_ people. A grown man and a young woman, probably a teenager, were standing outside a log cabin chatting. Both had blonde hair. A father and a daughter, perhaps? The man stood next to a red car, while the girl was wheeling a yellow motorcycle out of a small shed near the house. They were leaving. Was that a good thing? Or should he dash out in hopes of securing their aid to find his aunt who he'd been separated from?

Another twitch of his tail told him what he should do. Or rather, it reminded him of the reality of life. It reminded him of what life was like for a faunus here on Remnant. Here, out alone in the woods, filthy and ragged, he could only imagine what a couple of humans might think of him. Or think what he was. A criminal. Outlaw. Vagrant. Scum.

Faunus.

Olive eyes watched with hopeful anticipation as the man opened the driver's side door and sat down in the car. The girl mounted her motorcycle, and with a loud revving of engines sped away, followed shortly after by the man. Tires kicked up dirt from the simply pathway that led to the home, and in no time they were gone. Seconds turned to minutes as Oscar stood motionless, watching the cabin for any more signs of life. Were there others? Or had the family left to run errands?

In any case, the rumbling of his stomach told Oscar what needed to be done next. The strong scent lingered in the air, and his mouth salivated in anticipation of having food for the first time in days. It had to be close. More importantly, it had to be _accessible_. After all, the smell of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies didn't exactly carry on the breeze when they were hidden behind the windows and walls of a secure home.

Seeing that the coast was clear and no other figures were emerging from the door, Oscar dashed out from behind the trees and into the clearing which the cabin sat in. The scent was strong in his nose, and he reached the walls, hugging to them closely to help avoid detection. Moving around to the rear of the building, the smell was overwhelming. He could almost taste the sweet gooeyness of the melted chocolate. It would be the best meal he would ever experience in his life.

Then he saw them. There, perched on an open windowsill near the back door, sat a tray of cookies cooling under the warm summer breeze. There had to be at least a dozen there! A dozen delicious morsels of sweet, chocolatey goodness just waiting to be devoured by the hungry faunus.

If these people had enough wealth to own their own home, and even had a motorcycle for the teenager, surely they could afford to lose a few cookies… right? Who was to say that an equally hungry raccoon hadn't gotten them after being so carelessly left open to the outside world like that?

Throwing caution to the wind, Oscar dashed forward, only to stop when his finger tentatively reached out to test the temperature of the pan. It was warm, but so much that it stopped him from handling the pan. Wasting little time, he grabbed the tray of cookies, bringing it outside the window and began stuffing the tasty treats into his mouth. An explosion of flavor went off, and for the first time in days Oscar smiled. He didn't care about spilling crumbs onto the ground. Nor did he care about the chocolate streaks which undoubtedly stained his lips and cheeks. He needed to eat. He needed all of the cookies. He needed to fill his stomach in order to give him the strength to move on.

More than a dozen cookies were devoured in just a couple of minutes, and Oscar set the tray back on the windowsill. It was time to move on. If there was a cabin here, that meant that the rest of civilization had to be close, right? A city, or maybe even just a village had to be close. He could get help there. Surely there would be someone who wouldn't judge him for being a faunus, right?

As he pushed himself off of the wall of the cabin, prepared to move on in his journey, he heard a sudden noise from inside the cabin.

"_What the! My- my cookies! What! Where! How!?"_

Oscar's heart skipped a beat. With newfound strength and energy, his legs moved on their own.

A little too quickly, as he tripped over his own feet, falling forward onto the grass with a dull thump. A soft grunt of pain was forced from his lips as well.

"_Hey! Who's out there!" _the feminine voice inside shouted.

Scrambling to pick himself off the ground, Oscar's legs began to move once more, and he dashed as quickly as he could away from the cabin and back toward the tree line of the forest.

His eyes were wide and his heart was thumping with every step, but as seconds passed by he grew nearer and nearer to the safety of cover. Once he was in the forest there would be places to hide. Perhaps under the thick canopy he would be able to escape the voice who was undoubtedly coming out after him.

_Almost there… almost there…_

A gunshot made Oscar's heart skip a beat, and in his panic the boy lost his footing and stumbled forward before planting his chin into the grass near the tree line. Above him the wind rushed over his head, and a red blur carried past his prone body and into the trees.

When his head came up to see in front of him, Oscar saw the tall body of a tree tipping over, sliced clean through near its base. The loud crash of the fully-grown tree hitting the ground was muted in his ears as he saw the person who had wrought such destruction stand back up to their full height.

Clad in a black corset and skirt, and with a bright red hooded cloak hanging over her shoulders and back, a young redheaded teenager hefted an impossibly large mechanical scythe, resting the destructive device casually over her shoulder with a single hand. As her head rose and turned to meet his gaze, an arm came out, finger extended accusingly at him.

"Cookie thief!" she cried, her face scrunched with an impossible amount of anger for a girl as pretty as she was.

And by the gods, was she pretty. Oscar's tail fluffed out a bit on its own, uncaring of the dire situation he found himself in. Time seemed to slow as he stared up at her, hardly believing that a girl as attractive as her was capable of such destruction.

Still, now was neither the time nor the place to gawk at the beautiful girl who had just slashed a whole tree to the ground with a single swipe, and Oscar scurried back onto his feet and turned to resume running back toward the trees. His angle took him away from the girl in black and red, and he heard her shouting at him once more.

"Hey, get back here!"

He would not. He would flee and never return to the cabin which housed the scythe-wielding girl.

Another gunshot made Oscar fall once more, this time by choice as he instinctively threw himself to the ground to avoid being hit. But just as before, the girl who fired the shot passed harmlessly above his body, and another crashing noise to his right told him that she had made contact with yet another tree. He didn't spare a glance this time to see if she had cut this one down too.

Scrambling up once more Oscar made it successfully back to the woods, and hopefully the densely-packed trees would limit the girl's seemingly inhuman mobility. Finding a particularly thick trunk to lean his back against, Oscar stood there panting while attempting to catch his breath.

"Where are you!" she heard the girl shout. "Come out right now!"

She was close. He had to move. Crunching foliage under his boots, Oscar dashed toward the next closest tree before slamming himself behind it as well. If he could move from tree to tree, he could hopefully avoid his pursuer's sight. He could hopefully lose her. After all, in his brown pants and neutral white shirt would blend in far easier than the girl clad in red and black. He at least had that advantage going for him. Now if he could just make it until nightfall, he would also have the advantage of night vision on his side.

He could only hope that the girl wouldn't pursue him for that long over a few lost cookies.

As he stood against the tree, Oscar felt as though he was in a horror movie. He was even trying to escape from a maniac with a scythe. Admittedly this maniac was far more attractive than the average slasher villain, but the fact that she was slicing through trees as a villain might do through people did not make her lovely appearance any more comforting. His breathing was loud in his ears as he stood. Waiting for the ideal moment to move again…

"Found you!" came the sudden shout next to him, and Oscar jumped in terror as the girl poked her head around the tree he stood next to.

With a frightened yelp his legs moved without thinking, and Oscar fled further into the woods. Leaves and branches crunched under him as he ran, trying desperately to evade the psychopath with the scythe.

"You won't escape me, cookie thief!" the sweet yet chilling scream of the girl cried from behind him.

Darting from tree to tree, from cover to cover, Oscar's breaths were coming out in desperate gasps as he sought to escape his pursuer. Peeking behind him, he didn't see her, and made a decision in his panic.

Tilting his head upward he saw a branch that even he could reach at his diminutive height. Oscar jumped, grabbing onto a low-hanging branch and pulling his small body up. He straddled the branch before he was able to find his balance atop it, and in seconds reached up for the next reachable limb of the tree.

If he couldn't escape horizontally, he could at least do it vertically.

"Get back down here and fight me!"

So much for losing her. But at least maybe she wouldn't be able to get up here. Maybe she'd lose interest, like a dog unable to pursue a cat which had just climbed a tree to escape.

In a scrambled panic he climbed up multiple branches until Oscar sat a good fifteen feet off the ground. He peered down at the girl, who slowly approached him with her scythe in tow.

Olive eyes widened. Her scythe…

The girl's face scrunched up, and with one blindingly-fast motion, swung her scythe at the tree he hid in.

The world turned upside down as the tree began to fall, and with it, Oscar. Scurrying around so that he wouldn't land underneath its falling weight, Oscar rode the falling trunk down until it crashed to the earth with bone-shaking impact.

Oscar laid there in a daze, flexing his toes inside his boots to make sure his legs still functioned properly. His body ached from the impact, but as far as he could tell there was no lasting damage to him.

The feeling of hands gripping him by the back of the shirt made him think that this was about to change.

Pulling him up by the collar and back of his shirt, Oscar found himself on his feet once more, and was spun around to face the girl. His tail bristled, a purely instinctual reaction to the threat facing him from only inches away. Oscar's hands came up, mimicking what he thought was the best fighting pose possible for someone who was untrained.

He threw a punch at the girl, something which he thought he'd never do in his life, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Besides, it wasn't as if taking a swing at her was any worse than wielding that terrifying scythe at him.

His clumsy right hook missed, and the girl moved with blinding speed as she was able to get in impossible close to him. Through his guard, and close enough to feel her hot breath on his face.

Shimmering silver eyes shone for a split-second before a tiny fist hit with surprising impact, clean against his cheek. Oscar's face whirled to the left from the hit.

Blinking hard, and not even having a moment to recover before the second hit came, another fist slammed home against his face, this time squarely on the nose.

Oscar's world went white for a moment, until color returned in blurs and blotches. Color didn't matter when his brain couldn't make sense of the shapes in front of him.

"Wow, Yang was right. That felt awesome!" he heard the girl say as he fell down onto his backside. As eyes blinked trying to comprehend what exactly was being said and to who.

Oscar tried to stand, planting his palms on the forest floor, but he lacked the strength to push himself back to his feet. Something wet was trickling down his chin. Was it raining?

Red and black filled his vision once more, and at first he thought he had finally succeeded in standing back up again. Only a few moments later did he realize that the same fist which had just socked him in the face was now holding him up by the front of his shirt.

"Huh, I guess I must be getting better at this hand to hand stuff," the girl mused, holding him in front of her. "Or Yang's just a really good teacher. Hey, are you bleeding? Why didn't you put your… Aura…"

Blurry vision was beginning to clear, and multiple images were beginning to coalesce as the girl's face in front of his was becoming sharper and sharper. A pair of wide silver eyes were staring into his own, only where anger had been present only minutes ago, now they only showed worry.

"Oh my gods… you don't have Aura," she gasped. "I… I could have taken your head clean off! I'm so sorry!"

She was… apologizing? But hadn't he stolen cookies from _her?_ Why would she need to apologize for that?

The rain was beginning to annoy him now, and Oscar's hand came up to clear the water from his face. The back of his hand showed a bright red streak. Oscar blinked hard, and for the first time since being punched in the nose, his thoughts were beginning to come back to him with clarity.

"What?" was all he could think to ask.

"Oh my gods oh my gods oh my gods…" he heard her whisper. "I beat up a civilian. I could have killed a civvy!"

His nose was killing him, and now that he was no longer dazed, Oscar realized it was bleeding from the punch the girl had delivered. His hand came up, clutching it to prevent more blood from dripping down onto his shirt.

"I'm so sorry!" she repeated. "Please, please come with me! I'll get you cleaned up and call an ambulance!"

Cleaned up? That was a good idea. Ambulance… no. No, that wouldn't be necessary. All he needed was a little medical attention and then he could be on his way again. Other people need not get involved. Other humans. They would probably just arrest him anyway for stealing the girl's cookies.

Oscar allowed himself to be led back to the cabin where this had all started. The sooner he could get himself patched up and get away from here, the better.

* * *

This was terrible! Horrible! No good! Very bad!

As Ruby rummaged through the closet trying to find the long-unused first aid kit, she couldn't believe what she had done. More importantly, what she had almost done.

Sure, the sight of her freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies had sent her into a bit of a rage. She had pursued the offender to the forest, and several trees had lost their lives in her pursuit of justice. The casualties could have been far worse, however. Far more than mere innocent trees could have been killed today.

Growing up in a family of huntsmen, it wasn't often that one needed bandages and antiseptics. Not since she and Yang had been children. These days all they needed to do was activate their Auras, and any minor cuts and bruises would disappear before their eyes.

The sight of the blood trickling from his nose, however, was a stark reminder to the girl that not everyone possessed Aura. Not everyone who was a baddie could be assumed to be on the same level as she was.

To Ruby's relief she found a white metal tin which contained medical supplies. She hoped the contents would still be good, but she couldn't imagine things like bandages going bad. Confident that she had all she needed, Ruby closed the closet door and headed out into the living room where the boy was led to sit on the couch. She hoped that he hadn't decided to take off as soon as she'd left the room. The poor thing had to be scared after what she'd inflicted, and almost inflicted on him.

To her relief the boy still sat there, but his body language told the whole story. His knees were pressed tightly together, and hands were folded across his lap. Even something as basic as his head being tilted downward to stare at his hands was clear evidence of just how bad things were. He was a small boy, shorter than even herself, and that was saying something. He looked young as well. Probably a couple years her junior. It was hard to tell when he refused to look her in the eyes, and the glimpses she did get of him saw a face that was colored red with his own blood.

Yang had taught her about unarmed combat too well, perhaps.

Or she just had a knack for beating up defenseless civilians…

"Hey, I found the first aid kit," Ruby greeted warmly as she approached the couch. She hoped that she'd be able to convince the boy that she wasn't a threat after nearly killing him. "Does anything else besides your nose hurt?"

While she wasn't too well-versed in first aid treatment, it would be important to know if he had any pain in his stomach or chest as a result of internal bleeding. Or if maybe he'd broken a bone or torn a muscle somewhere. The fact that he'd been able to walk away from taking a ride on a falling tree was a testament to just how lucky they'd gotten.

The boy shook his head softly. "N-no. I don't think so."

Ruby smiled and nodded. Taking a seat beside him, she set the kit on her lap and opened it up to begin rummaging through it. First thing was to clean up the blood. Some wet disinfectant wipes would do the trick.

As Ruby tore the first packet open and unfolded the wipe, she reached over to begin cleaning up the dried red substance from his nose and chin. That's when she heard it. It was faint, softer than a whisper, but she heard it. Purring. Ruby stopped short of touching his face as she stared at his face.

He still wouldn't meet her gaze.

That's right… he was a faunus. He had a tail. She wasn't sure what type, but if he was purring did that make him some sort of feline faunus?

Ruby, an aspiring huntress and one of the star pupils at Signal Academy, had beaten up a faunus civilian. This wouldn't look good at all. If anyone found out about it they'd probably label her as a racist. She wasn't though! She really wasn't! She would have attacked a cookie thief be they human or faunus!

"Is it okay if I clean you up?" she asked nervously. Truth be told Ruby wasn't the most outgoing or talkative person in the world, but right now she had to make the effort. Clearly the boy was in no mood or position to be the sociable one. She didn't blame him either.

He nodded. "Yeah."

She reached out tentatively, but soon enough made contact with his skin. Gentle strokes cleaned blotches away from his tanned skin, and Ruby was soon forced to discard the first wipe in a waste bag and open another. She'd made a mess of his face. The poor kid.

She wanted nothing more than to show him how sorry she was and make him feel comfortable. Trying to patch things up was a start. That meant getting to know each other. "So, um, my name's Ruby," she started. "What's yours?"

She took care to avoid wiping his mouth so he could speak. "Oscar."

Ruby smiled and nodded. "Oscar. Nice to meet you. I, I wish we could have met under better circumstances." She continued to clean the blood from his face as she spoke. "I'm really sorry for what happened out there."

He nodded once more. "It's okay. I deserved that."

Her hand stopped moving in an instant. "No. No you didn't. You may have taken my cookies, but you didn't deserve to almost die. I got… I got really carried away out there. I went overboard. That's not who I am as a person, and it's not who I am as a huntress. I'm so sorry, Oscar."

A soft purring continued to come from him. Ruby wasn't sure if it was coming from his throat or not. She wasn't exactly familiar with cat biology. But didn't purring mean cats were happy? She wondered if that was a sign of his forgiveness. Even if he couldn't vocalize it with words, maybe his body was doing it for him.

"I stole your food," he said, continuing to contest the point. "You could have done worse. Some people out there would have."

Ruby frowned as she cleared the last of the blood from his face. Now clean, she saw that there was a nice cut across the bridge of his nose. While he'd bled from there, most of the stuff had come from inside the nostrils after her fist had given him a bloody nose. Tossing the last dirty wipe away, she searched for a bandage that would properly cover the injury.

As she did she took in the sight of the boy before her. His pants were filthy and ragged, with patches sewn onto what must have been areas where holes had formed. His white shirt, even before it had gotten bloody, wasn't in very good shape either. Ruby began connecting the dots in her head. A faunus boy out on his own. His clothes were filthy. And he'd stolen food from her. Just who was he? Where was he from? And most importantly, did he need help?

"You needed it, didn't you?" she asked, her tone softening. "That's why you took it."

Oscar nodded in agreement yet again. "Yeah. It's been… three days since I last ate."

"Three days!" she cried, standing up and spilling the contents of the aid kit on the floor. That could be cleaned up later. At least she had the bandage she needed in her hands. "Oh my gods, are you okay? Where's your family? Where do you live?"

"I'm from Mistral, but I was on my way with my aunt to visit some family here on Patch." His face fell, and his gaze lowered back onto his lap. "But there was a Grimm attack and our caravan got scattered. "I don't know where the others are. Or who's still alive."

Ruby's breath felt shaky, and her tiny hands clenched into fists as she stared down at the boy on her couch. Not only had she attacked a faunus civilian, but she'd attacked one who was in need of help. One who had stolen food because he needed it to survive. Her huntress career was off to a horribly bad start.

"Let me help then," she pleaded. "We can call your aunt. Do you know her number?"

Oscar shook his head. Pulling a scroll from his pocket, he showed it to her. "My scroll got broken in the attack. And I don't know her number by heart."

It was understandable. In this day and age people didn't need to remember scroll numbers when they could just be saved in the contact list.

Still, Ruby wasn't about to give up. "Okay, okay. We can do this. Um, we could head into town and go to the police. They'll know something about the attack, right? And about missing people maybe. Maybe someone came looking for you?"

To her surprise, Oscar shook his head. "No, please. No police."

Silver eyes narrowed on him. "Why not?"

Oscar looked back and behind himself, and a tail which had been hidden between him and the couch all this time came out and twitched. "The police aren't always good to my kind," he said softly. "I'd… prefer to avoid them if we could. Please."

Ruby didn't completely agree with his assessment, but she could understand why he felt that way. There were bad people out there. Racist ones. Even in positions of authority. Even if Ruby herself knew that not all police officers were bad toward faunus, she doubted she'd be able to convince a faunus who'd gone through that kind of treatment before.

"Okay, no police," she agreed. "I still wanna help you though. Is that okay?"

She was once more surprised when Oscar quickly nodded to that question. His olive eyes came up to meet hers, and she could swear that the faintest trace of a smile curled on his lips. "Yeah. That would be great."

Ruby smiled back. It seemed as if her warm and caring attitude had won him over after they'd gotten off to such a rocky start. It seemed like he trusted her now. Or at the very least he didn't consider her to be one of the bad humans who abused his kind. Even though… she had done terrible things to him.

But not because he was a faunus!

"Why do you want to help me though?" he followed up quickly. "After cleaning me up you don't have to do anything more."

True, she didn't. But she wouldn't be able to look herself in the mirror every morning if she didn't do her best to help this poor boy. "Well, I guess it's because that's just who I am," she answered. "I wanna be a huntress. I wanna help people out who need it, ya know? Like the heroes in all the fairy tales. I just wanna do what's right. And helping you is right, Oscar."

As if to emphasize the point, Ruby finally peeled the backing off of the butterfly bandage she'd held in her fingers for a couple minutes now and placed it over the cut on Oscar's nose. It looked a little off, right there in the center of his face like that, and she couldn't help but stifle a giggle as she stared. He looked like some sort of innocent, fluffy little critter right now. And not because he was faunus!

"There," she said warmly. "You'll be better in no time."

Oscar averted his gaze from her once more, and she saw how a slight blush crept on his cheeks. He must have been embarrassed by her giggling at the bandage on his nose. "Thanks."

"You must still be hungry. If you'd like I can make us a quick something. I'm not exactly a good cook, but I know how to use a microwave."

"That'd be great," he said earnestly.

The pair moved up and into the kitchen, and Ruby was pleased that he'd managed to get so comfortable around her after she'd nearly ended his life. But at least in a few days he'd be as good as new. And during that time hopefully they'd be able to quickly find his aunt and get him back to his family.

Just as she reached the sink to wash her hands, Ruby heard the familiar sound of a car pulling up to the front driveway. Her eyes widened. Dad was home!

It wasn't that she was embarrassed to have a friend over. It was just that… her dad would _force_ them to do the right thing. She just knew it. As a professional huntsman and responsible parent, he would make sure to take Oscar into town and get him in touch with the authorities, even if it wasn't what the boy wanted. Ruby definitely saw merit in the idea, but at the same time she wanted to respect Oscar's own wishes.

But more than that… he would get the wrong idea of her having a boy over. A boy over while she was _alone!_ Ruby wasn't as naïve as people wanted to believe. She knew about the Nevermores and the Lancers. And the idea her dad finding her with a boy around her age when they had the house to themselves was beyond embarrassing!

"Fudge!" she swore. At least, as much of a swear as she ever normally uttered. "My dad's home. We… we need to hide you!"

Grabbing hold of Oscar by the wrist, she pulled the boy with her toward the back door and opened it. They'd wait there for a little while until her dad came inside. Then, using a clever excuse, she'd go back outside and bring Oscar out front to the utility shed by the house. She'd hide him there until she could think of a better way of doing things.

"_Ruby, I'm home!" _she heard her dad announce from inside.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to the boy who stood beside her against the outer wall of the cabin. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

Oscar nodded wordlessly.

Pushing the door open, Ruby stepped back inside. "Hey, dad!"

Moving into the living room, she saw her dad looking down at the first aid kit and its contents spilled on the floor. "What happened here? Did you hurt yourself?"

"Oh, um yeah," she lied. "I was doing some training out back and I got hit by some pieces of broken wood. You know how I am. Clumsy as they get!" she said, knocking on the top of her head with her knuckles.

He was already cleaning up the bandages and putting them back into the kit. "Well as long as you're okay," he said. "Yang's still gone I take it?"

Ruby nodded. "Yup," she confirmed. She was very thankful for that.

"Well I'm going to get dinner started. It should be done by the time she's back."

Dinner. There was someone else who'd need some food. Ruby knew she'd need some to give to Oscar. "I'm feeling pretty hungry after training. Could you make a little more than usual?"

Tai smiled as he looked up at her. "Sure thing, kiddo. You're a growing huntress after all."

Ruby beamed back at him. "Yup! So, um, I'll be right back. I just gotta finish cleaning up outside."

"Okay. Just be careful this time."

"Can do!" she said with an exaggerated salute.

Stepping out through the backdoor, Ruby found Oscar and led him to the small shed near the cabin. It was dark, it wasn't insulated, and it was filthy, but it was the best place they had at the moment.

And when the time came, it was where the boy would be eating his own dinner tonight. Ruby just needed the opportunity to sneak him out some of her dad's delicious home cooking.

* * *

**Author's Note: **My first go at Rosegarden! I've never written Oscar before, but I love writing Ruby so hopefully you all enjoyed it! An AU setting for sure, with Oscar and Ruby meeting prior to the events of volume 1.

My thanks go out to Lost One for commissioning the work, and for giving me a lot of material to work with when it came to this AU.

As always, thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Commissioned by Lost One

* * *

It had been one day since Oscar had shown up in Ruby's life. One day since she'd hidden him away in the shed outside her family home. One day since she'd taken up the responsibility of looking after the poor boy who was just trying to reunite with his aunt here on Patch.

One day since she'd nearly beaten him senseless.

Ruby winced at that last part as she stood in the kitchen, busy making sandwiches on the counter. It was noon, and Oscar was probably hungry. She'd been able to sneak out earlier and give him some breakfast, and she wanted him to be able to come inside and at least live like a normal human being. Or a normal faunus in his case. However, the boy was oddly reluctant to allow his presence to be discovered by the rest of her family.

Ruby knew that her family wasn't racist against the faunus, but Oscar didn't. Furthermore, she knew he had his fears, and maybe rightfully so, that her dad would insist on taking him into town and contacting the police in hopes of reuniting Oscar with his family. While it wouldn't be the worst outcome in the world, she also knew that Oscar had his hesitations about going to the authorities. You never knew who might be prejudiced against the faunus race, and how little or how much they might do as a result.

As Ruby finished spreading some mayonnaise on the turkey sandwich, she nodded to herself with stoic resolve. She'd always wanted to be a hero, just like in the fairy tales. She would be Oscar's hero.

"Okay," she said to herself, looking over the array of food she'd prepared. "We have turkey with mayo. Ham with mustard. Peanut butter and jelly. We have some fun-size bags of chips." She paused, a frown curling on her lips. "Why do they call them fun-size anyway? There's nothing fun about like, two handfuls of chips per bag!"

Ruby may not have been a wizard in the kitchen, but even she could put pieces of meat on bread. Not knowing what Oscar preferred, she'd chosen to make a variety of sandwiches for lunch, as well as grab several different flavors of potato chips from the mixed package. Along with a few granola bars and pieces of fruit, she had a healthy and nutritious lunch prepared for both herself and the boy who she was hiding in the storage shed.

Now she just needed a way to get all of it out there…

Looking around, Ruby found an old grocery bag and snatched it for her own purposes. Placing the heavier fruit in first, she began stuffing her homemade lunch into the bag, with the sandwiches which had been placed in sealable bags going in last. She spun around to face the backdoor, only to stop when she saw that another person stood in the doorway between the kitchen and living room.

"Gah!" she shouted in fright, shocked by Yang's presence and dropping the bag to the floor. "When did you get here!?"

"When I heard you muttering your 'sandwich making song'," she smirked, causing Ruby's face to flush with humiliation. "You put the meat on the bread, do-do, do-do. You put the cheese on the meat, do-do, do-do. You put the mustard on the cheese, do-do, do-do…"

"S-shut up!" Ruby whined, looking down to the floor in embarrassment. She bent down to retrieve the food which had spilled from the bag. "It helps me remember the order of operations."

Yang reached down to pick up a stray orange which had rolled over to rest by her foot. "Right, because making sandwiches is like complex math equations," she said sardonically. The blonde girl eyed the fruit before tossing it over to Ruby. "So what are you up to with all this food?"

Ruby wasn't prepared for the airborne orange, and she fumbled it when she attempted to catch it. It bounced back onto the floor, and she reached down to grab it and stuff it back into the bag. "Nothing," she said innocently. Not even Yang could know about her little secret. Emphasis on little, being the short boy that he was. Even shorter than herself.

"Nothing?" Yang asked, taking a step closer. Lilac eyes danced with mischief, and Ruby felt her heart pounding, knowing that her big sister had that stereotypical older sibling torture glint in her eyes. She unconsciously took a step back from the blonde-haired lioness. "Let's see. You have a bag filled with food, and it looked like you were about to head outside. Where are you going, Ruby?"

The redhead found herself backed up against the countertop, and her hands squeezed down as Yang towered over her. Silver eyes darted left to right seeking a suitable escape path. Maybe with her Semblance she could slip past Yang and make it to the door. Yang was unarmed, and thus Ember Celica wouldn't be able to propel her to move any faster than she could normally run. It would be an easy escape, though she would look super guilty in the process. It would only raise more questions from her inquisitive older sister.

"I, um, am going on a picnic," she said, holding up the bag of food as proof of the claim. It was _technically_ true, from a certain point of view. Eating outdoors with a friend and homemade food could be considered a picnic, right?

"A picnic," Yang echoed, her head turning to glance out the kitchen window. "It's a nice day and all, I guess…" Her gaze fell upon Ruby once more, and her lips curled up in a smirk. "And who are you going with? Don't tell me it's that Wesson boy from your class. Is my _wittle_ sister sneaking out to see a boy?" she cooed.

She hated how Yang emphasized 'little' like that. Ruby's face twisted with anger. "No! Me and Wesson are just friends, Yang!"

"Well then who is it? I know you don't have _that_ many friends at Signal. So come on, spill. Who's the lucky guy? Who's my sweet, innocent sister's first crush?"

It _was_ a boy, but Yang didn't need to know that. She wasn't about to betray Oscar's trust in order to save her own skin from Yang's teasing. As her eyes fell down to gaze on her combat boots, Ruby saw the folded form of Crescent Rose hanging from her hip.

Taking a deep breath, Ruby's body trembled as her head snapped back up to Yang. "I'm going with Crescent Rose, okay!" she shouted.

The answer took Yang aback, and she stood there in wide-eyed silence. Seconds passed, and the blonde girl was apparently stunned and dumbfounded by her sister's answer. It was… an awkward answer to say the least. Ruby knew she was a little more socially awkward than her social butterfly of an older sister. Yang was right in that she didn't have too many friends from Signal Academy. Still, to say you were going to have a picnic alone with your _weapon _was beyond embarrassing.

Finally Yang mustered the ability to speak. Her reaction was just as bad as Ruby had feared. "Crescent Rose," she said, nodding down to the weapon at Ruby's waist.

Ruby's free hand moved to cover her baby up from the blonde's accusing eyes. "Y-yes…"

"You're having a picnic with your weapon," she pressed.

The younger girl swallowed and nodded. "Yes…"

"Alone," Yang frowned. "With your weapon." A breath slipped from her lips, and Yang looked more sad than anything. "Ruby… do you want me to go on a picnic with you? I don't have anything planned today, and, um… I… I would feel kinda bad if you went by yourself…"

There was pity in the normally lively eyes of her sister. She honestly thought that Ruby was so lonely that she had to resort to having a picnic with her weapon rather than another person. Was she really that much of a weapon-nut that such a story was not only plausible, but more believable than sneaking out to see a boy?

Ruby shook her head. "N-no…" she said, grabbing Crescent Rose and detaching it from her hip. She cradled it against her body with one arm, the other holding her bag of food. "Me and my… baby are going to have a nice picnic alone. And then I'm gonna do some training… you know, make a whole day of it…"

Yang nodded in grim understanding. Ruby felt those judgmental yet pitying eyes of her sister boring holes into her. "If… that makes you happy," she smiled weakly. "Sure. But just know that anytime you want to have a picnic with me, I won't say no, okay?" Yang reached out and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "I love you, Ruby, and I'm here for you."

Ruby wanted to die. She felt like such a loser right now. Yang was doing the responsible and loving thing, offering her unconditional love and support for her little sister. Yet Ruby turned her away, all because this whole thing was a lie. A lie she had to keep going for Oscar's sake.

She would normally say he owed her big time for this, but, well, she had repeatedly punched him in the face…

Humiliating herself was just one of the many ways _she_ would make it up to _him._

"Thanks, Yang," she smiled back. "But if you'll excuse me, I should really get going. It's lunchtime, and we're starving."

Ruby pushed past Yang, and even as she approached the backdoor she felt those pitying eyes staring into her back. Ruby glanced around to see Yang still watching, and waved goodbye. Yang waved back.

She pushed through the door and stepped out into what was beautiful weather. Perfect for a picnic. She hoped that she would be able to shake the humiliation of Yang thinking that she was the only one who would be enjoying such a lovely day.

* * *

Oscar never realized how slowly time passed when you were doing nothing. Even running for his life through the forest beat this!

Sitting alone in the dark, dirty shed, he waited. It was all he could do. Sure, he could always risk venturing outside and exploring the woods, but he never knew when Ruby would return with the lunch she'd promised him earlier in the day. He also knew there could be a stray Grimm or two out there, and he wasn't exactly void of negative thoughts. He felt like a prisoner, albeit a willing one. There were worse places to be trapped than in a pretty girl's shed.

_A pretty girl who could, and has, kicked my butt… _A smile curled on his lips at the thought.

Ruby was amazing. Seriously amazing. A student at Signal Academy right here on Patch, she planned to attend Beacon Academy in Vale once she graduated. She was already incredibly skilled with that scythe of hers. The scythe which had nearly taken his head off on more than one occasion. It amazed him that he could look back on such a horrendous turn of events with such… fondness.

_But she didn't take my head off,_ his mind argued. _I'm alive and well. Unless she killed me on the first swipe and this has been the afterlife without me even knowing it._

His stomach growled. No, he couldn't possibly be dead. You shouldn't get hungry if you were dead. Right now he felt as if he could eat an entire buffet out of business. And that was saying something with his small frame.

The sounds of movement outside alerted him, and Oscar moved to hide behind some of the tools and equipment stored in the shed. One occasion it paid to be small. Thankfully the blonde older sister hadn't put her motorcycle back last evening. It would have been awkward to have a second girl beat him up over being an intruder on their property.

The door of the shed opened, and light poured in before he heard the sweetest sound in the world. In more ways than one. "Oscar?" Ruby whispered loudly.

Peeking his head up and over the lawnmower, Oscar saw the girl in red and black standing in the doorway. "Yeah?"

She held up a bag, and his enhanced faunus senses picked up the scent of food. "Come on. We're going on a picnic."

The boy's mood perked up immediately, and he came out from his hiding place to stand before Ruby. It bothered him slightly that he had to look up to meet her warm, silver-eyed gaze, but then again she was a couple years older than him. He'd grow in time. He'd get taller than her, and then she'd be the one to have to look up at him!

Was he really thinking that far ahead? For all he knew he could be gone by tomorrow and he'd never see her again. A pang ate at his stomach, and this time it wasn't caused from hunger.

"Come on," she insisted, still whispering and taking his wrist in her hand and pulling him out from the shed. "We have to hurry!"

Oscar was pulled from his dark but safe hiding spot, but he trusted Ruby. He trusted that she wouldn't lead him astray. That she wouldn't allow him to be spotted by anyone.

Moving quickly through the woods all he could focus on was the fact that she still hadn't let go of his arm. Pulling him with one and carrying their food with the other, she led him away from her house and into a clearing in the woods. With ample tree cover still, the secluded bed of grass was the perfect place to sit down and enjoy a meal. Finally, and a bit disappointingly, Ruby released her hold on him.

"I guess, um, make yourself comfortable," she said, looking around for a place to sit. She blinked, and in an instant her smile inverted into a frown. "Fudge! I didn't bring a blanket or anything!"

Oscar didn't see the problem with it. It wasn't as if the ground was muddy from rainfall or anything. "It's okay. Grass is fine to sit on."

Ruby sank down to her knees, her tall combat boots and black tights preventing the skin of her legs from getting dirty. "I just wanted things to be perfect."

As Oscar stood there looking down upon the girl, her red-black hair hanging down over her gleaming silver eyes, he couldn't imagine anything more perfect. "It already is," he blurted out.

Ruby peered up, his reassuring words bringing a hopefully smile to her lips. "Really?"

He nodded, and settled down next to her to sit cross-legged. "Yeah. Besides, you've already done so much for me. I wouldn't complain about a blanket even if I did care about it."

Her smile persisted, and she nodded in turn. "Thanks. But… we're nowhere close to being even. I could have killed you, Oscar. I'm so, so sorry."

Oscar felt a little embarrassed that Ruby still felt so guilty about yesterday's events. He'd gotten over it already, but he supposed it would be a lot different if he'd been the one who beat up someone littler and younger than himself. And nearly killed them with a super-cool huntsman weapon.

"It's okay, Ruby," he tried to reassure her. "Really. You don't have to make up anything to me. I mean, I _did_ steal your cookies."

Ruby squeezed her lips together, trying to suppress an embarrassed smirk of her own. "Dad always did call me his little cookie monster…" she admitted bashfully.

She certainly had become a monster when she found out her tasty treats had been stolen. The nickname suited her.

All this talk about food made Oscar's stomach growl once more. He stared down at it, while Ruby looked up at him.

"Right, food!" she declared, opening up the bag and putting it between herself and him. "So I made ham, turkey, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches," she said, pulling them out one by one. "There's chips. Fruit. And granola bars. Take your pick. Anything you want."

Hazel eyes zeroed in on the turkey sandwich. He picked up that one, and Ruby chose peanut butter and jelly afterward. Opening up the bag it was in, Oscar took a huge bite of it. Flavor exploded in his mouth, and he ravenously began to devour his lunch.

"It's not bad, is it?" Ruby asked worriedly, even as she held her untouched sandwich up before her mouth.

Oscar shook his head wildly. He was already halfway through it. "No," he insisted, talking with a full mouth. Ruby didn't seem like the kind to care about bad manners. He was more concerned with reassuring her. "It's delicious. I love it."

The compliment brought a happy smile to her face. Oscar may not have had much experience with women, but even he knew that you never insulted a girl's cooking to her face. "Thank you," she uttered softly before finally taking a bite of her own sandwich.

They said that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach. Oscar may not have been a man yet, but the saying still applied to him and his stomach. Taking more ravenous chomps out of the sandwich, he eyed Ruby as she too began to daintily take bites from her own. For all her ability as a warrior, as scary as she was with that massive scythe of hers, she ate a sandwich like a sweet, delicate little flower.

Fitting for someone with the surname Rose.

"So, um, between all the misunderstandings," Ruby said after swallowing some of her food. "And the punching, and the many, _many _apologies… well, I guess we haven't really gotten to sit down and kinda get to know each other. At least more than the basics."

Oscar nodded as he finished the last of the sandwich. There was a third still available, but his hand reached instead for a granola bar and opened it up. Little nuggets of peanut butter and chocolate dotted it, and he took a bite from the sweet treat. "Yeah," he agreed, not wanting to say too much as he chewed.

"Now would be a pretty okay time, right?" she smiled.

Oscar's heart skipped a beat. What a bright and pretty smile she had. It was completely disarming, and had he not lived through the experience himself, he wouldn't have believed that girl was capable of going on a cookie-rage-fuelled rampage through the forest, felling trees with wild swings of her scythe.

He nodded once more. "Sure. What do you wanna know?"

Ruby frowned, her body squirming a bit uncomfortably as her fingers fidgeted around the sandwich she still held. "Um… I dunno. Can you tell I'm not really good with small talk?"

The question brought a smile to Oscar's face, and he gazed down at his lap. "Yeah. Same here."

"I guess this is why Yang thought I was so pathetic earlier," she sighed. Silver eyes glanced over to where her weapon lay on the grass beside her. "Oh, Yang's my sister. You might have seen her around. Blonde, beautiful, really confident and outgoing. Unlike me…"

While Oscar was happy that the pity party for him seemed to be fading, he didn't like seeing Ruby be so down on herself. No one as kind and generous as her deserved that sort of negative treatment. Not even from herself.

"Hey," he started nervously, not quite knowing how to properly talk to girls his age. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. You're really great, okay? Not everyone would help out a total stranger who stole from them."

Ruby's lips pressed together once more, suppressing the desire to smile embarrassedly at his compliment. The attempt failed, and her lips curled upward. "Thanks."

"They wouldn't cook or have a picnic with the thief either. I may not have known you for long, but you're a really nice person."

This time it was Ruby who nodded, unable to meet his eyes as she stared down at the sandwich clenched between her fingers. "You are too."

"So is Yang going to be a huntress too?"

The question seemed to perk Ruby up, and her eyes met his as a full and genuine smile formed on her face. "Yeah! She's actually going to Beacon as soon as she graduates from Signal. I'm so jealous of her. She's actually a really good fighter, and she has these shotgun gauntlets named Ember Celica, and they can shoot when she punches people, or she can load them with projectile rounds and blast people from long range…"

Ruby went on and on, words pouring from her mouth like a fountain when it came to matters of being a huntress. Or weapons in general. In the span of a couple minutes Oscar learned answers to questions he never even asked, and should he ever be quizzed on the fighting abilities and weapons of Yang, he would have been able to ace that test with no problem.

Oscar merely sat in silence, eating more food as Ruby talked and talked. Where had the shy, socially awkward girl gone? The one who had put herself down only minutes before? It seemed that she had a certain trigger which would get her out of her shell and cause an explosion of chatter. Get her talking about weapons or huntsmen, and she could talk for hours.

He had just finished eating an apple by the time Ruby deemed her answer to Oscar's question about Yang answered. "And that's why I chose to make a high-impact sniper rifle scythe as my own weapon." She blinked, glancing down at her sandwich, which had been squeezed to death in her excitement, causing globs of peanut butter and jelly to spill to the ground. "Wait what was your question again?"

Oscar laughed. For the first time since meeting Ruby, he felt completely and totally at ease. She certainly was a character, he had to admit. She'd been so wrapped up in her stories and explanations that she had not only forgotten the original question, but the fact that she was supposed to be eating and enjoying a simple little picnic outdoors.

She pouted, her bottom lip quivering as silver eyes narrowed with all the malice of a puppy who'd just been given an unwanted bath. "What's so funny?"

Taking a few moments to catch his breath, Oscar held up a hand as he wheezed. "Nothing," he lied. "Everything," he said a bit more truthfully. Her eyes narrowed on him even further, causing a new round of amusement for the boy. He clamped his mouth shut, but that couldn't stop the involuntary purring that came from his faunus genes.

"Yang says I'm a bit of a weapon geek," she said softly. Bashfully. Like she realized the tangent she'd just gone on, and was embarrassed over it. "And dad. And Uncle Qrow…" She glanced down at her ruined sandwich and set it aside. "I mean they're not mean about it, but…"

"No, don't be sorry," Oscar insisted. "I thought it was really cool how you kept talking. You must really like that stuff. And you must really want to be a huntress."

"I do," she said, the pout and the frown evaporating instantly. In their place came a dreamy glint in her eyes, accompanied by a girlish smile like she was thinking about her favorite member of the Achieve Men. "It's my dream. The thing I wanna do most in life. I wanna be a hero and save people just like in all the fairy tales I read as a kid…"

An admirable dream and a righteous cause. In a world filled with darkness and cruelty, Ruby was a beacon of light. Of hope. Someone who only wanted to do good for all the right reasons. Oscar couldn't help but respect that and her. He wished he could say he had such noble aspirations.

"What about you? What do you wanna do when you grow up?"

Oscar might have given some sort of answer like 'what I want and what I'm going to do are two different things', but he sadly didn't have any such dreams like Ruby did. Frankly, it made him a little bit sad that she knew what she wanted out of life, and Oscar only knew what was expected of his.

"I guess you could say my path in life is already set," he simply answered vaguely.

A slight tilt in Ruby's head indicated her curiosity. "Ooh that sounds ominous. What does that mean?"

"Right now I'm just a farmer, but I guess you could say that I have some big plans for the future."

"Big plans? Do you wanna be a huntsman too or something?"

Want had very little to do with his future. Being the heir to the research and development company founded by his grandparents gave him little choice on what he actually wanted to do.

Oscar shrugged, a coy little smile curling on his lips as he broke eye contact. "I dunno."

It wasn't that he didn't trust Ruby. Quite the opposite in fact. However, he didn't know her family. Much like his feline faunus heritage, Oscar chose to exercise caution here. If they found out who he was and the potential money that his rescue could bring, his time with Ruby could swift come to an end.

He did not enjoy the thought of that. Not one bit.

"Oh come on tell me!" she insisted. "You can tell me!"

He _could_ tell her. However, he would much rather have her guessing like this. Playing with her, like a cat batting around its captured prey. His lips remained sealed.

"So you're a farmer… big plans…" she thought aloud, wracking her brain trying to figure out what he meant. "Compost! King of compost!"

Oscar blinked. He had no idea how she'd come to that conclusion, but it was no less amusing.

The remainder of their picnic consisted of Ruby trying to guess Oscar's true heritage. She never came close. After all, who could have ever guessed that they were speaking to the heir of Remnant's only company that focused on the research of non-dust related technology?

* * *

As Ruby neared the back door to her house, she couldn't help but smile. The picnic incident had started out sour thanks to Yang, but had ended on such an awesome note!

Getting to know more about Oscar was cool, or at least trying to. He had been tight-lipped about his family, though Ruby supposed that maybe with a little more time he'd open up more. Still, they'd been able to talk about weapons. Or rather she did most of the talking about them for a couple hours while they enjoyed her cooking. If one could call making sandwiches cooking.

The day before she'd only been able to provide him with the bare minimum to sleep in the old family shed, so tonight she was on a mission to provide more pillows and blankets in hopes of him being able to craft some sort of makeshift bed out of them. With a mission in mind, she pushed the door to her home open and stepped inside with her empty plastic picnic bag.

Only to see a trio of figures seated at the kitchen table. That would certainly make this a lot trickier.

"Hey, Ruby," Yang greeted, standing up before moving over to envelop her sister in a tight embrace.

Ruby frowned. She hadn't been gone _that_ long. Still, she returned the hug to her big sister. "Hey, Yang."

When the blonde girl released her Ruby nodded to the two men still sitting down. "Hey dad. Uncle Qrow. What's going on?"

Her father smiled at her warmly, but she could tell there was some underlying twinge of sadness pulling at his lips. "Ruby, sweetie," he said softly. Her concern was growing.

"Is Zwei okay!?" she suddenly yelled in a panic.

"He's fine," her dad reassured her. "Ruby, can you sit down?"

At least happy that her dog and family were all safe and sound, Ruby moved to sit in the chair between her sister and dad. She looked back and forth between them, not knowing quite what to expect next.

"Ruby. Yang tells me you had a picnic earlier."

Silver eyes widened, and she gazed over to her sister who merely smiled uncomfortably back at her. Ruby nodded. "Y-yeah?"

"With… your weapon," he continued.

She felt her stomach drop. So this was actually happening. Her family had gathered for some kind of intervention for her because they believed her to be a friendless loser who had to resort to picnicking with an inanimate object.

"Dad, it's really not a big de-"

"You know we love you, right, kiddo?" her uncle interrupted.

She _did_ know that. And _she_ would love it if they just dropped the whole subject. She wasn't a sad, lonely loser! She had a picnic with a boy! Fate had just conspired to prevent her from telling them that!

"I- I know," she stumbled, struggling hard not to explode with excuses over her behavior today.

"So I was thinking," her dad said. "We should all go to the arcade tomorrow. One big family outing. Qrow said he was paying."

"Hey, I said noth-"

His protest was cut short by a sharp elbow courtesy of Yang. Qrow winced and rubbed his ribs from where his niece had struck him.

"Yup. Said he was going to use all that lien he'd saved from his teacher's salary to treat us to a day at the arcade," Yang said happily.

"Clearly you've never been a teacher…" he grumbled.

Her dad smiled sweetly at her. "So what do you say, Ruby? Sound like a plan for tomorrow?"

Caught between three sets of eyes staring at her, all with some degree of pity, Ruby fought against the urge to flee in utter mortification. She couldn't believe that one little lie, one done out of good intentions, had resulted in this. Still, she couldn't avoid this. She couldn't run away. She couldn't protest. The proof was in the empty bag she held. She had gone on a picnic 'alone' today. Because they all believed she had no friends to go with.

Ruby sighed, closing her eyes and remembering that this was all for a good cause. It was for Oscar's safety and happiness. With reluctance, she nodded in agreement to their plans. "Yeah. Sounds… fun."

"Great!" her dad clapped with excitement. "We'll leave tomorrow morning. How does eleven sound? We'll grab some lunch when we get there, and then have a whole day of gaming ahead of us."

Normally that would have sounded like a wonderful time. It still could be. There was, however, and interesting question.

Would she have to leave Oscar all alone here for the whole day? Or could she somehow smuggle him with them so they could enjoy the arcade together?

* * *

**Author's Note: **Writing Ruby is always a treat. She's such a grade-A dork. I adore her.

As always, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it as much as the commissioner himself did!


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